Russell County deputy arrested for drug trafficking

Two months after being hired as a Russell County sheriff’s deputy, Brandon Williams was charged with trafficking after drugs were seized at his Greystone Riverchase Apartment.

Williams, 24, was questioned Wednesday by deputies and booked into the Lee County Jail because his apartment is located off Summerville Road in Lee County. He is charged with trafficking a controlled substance (spice) and possession of steroids, also a controlled substance.

During a news conference at the Russell County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Heath Taylor said the deputy was pretending to be someone who protects and serves, but he turned the public's trust into something bad.

“We are not going to stand for it here,” said Taylor, who was assisted in the investigation by Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones. “We have never stood for it. If we get information that is credible about this type of goings-on in our community with deputies or with anybody in authority, we don’t turn the other cheek. We don’t turn the other ear; we investigate.”

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Taylor said about a week ago his office learned that a Russell County road deputy was involved in drug trafficking and was helping a well-known drug dealer. As a deputy, Williams worked alone patrolling streets and answering calls from the public.

“Today we concluded that investigation,” he said. “We partnered with Lee County a couple of days ago to help us with a search warrant of the deputy’s residence.”

Taylor said deputies found about 1.5 pounds of synthetic marijuana inside the apartment.

The Russell County sheriff said it was difficult to work a case on one of his own deputies.

“It is also difficult to do that without anybody in the department knowing what you are doing and that whole thing,” he said. “We were lucky in this case. We were able to complete a successful investigation without anybody knowing what we were doing or what was going on.”

The investigation of Williams was similar to a drug investigation with the use of informants, Taylor said. The alleged activity may have been going on during his entire tenure at the sheriff’s office.

“My opinion is it has been happening the whole time he has been here,” Taylor said. “That is unfortunate. As this unfolded today and as we brought him into the office, there were several officers just completely shocked by his demeanor and working with them, being around them and seeing this side.”

Before landing the deputy’s job in Russell County, Williams worked briefly at the Phenix City Police Department.

“He was certified as a police officer when he came to us,” the sheriff said.

Jones said it appears that a person who was placed in the public’s trust betrayed that trust. He said the majority of the employees in his office work very hard for the public’s trust, to protect and to do their jobs.

“It is just extremely unfortunate when we have an individual to not fall in that same vein,” he said. “We were contacted immediately by Sheriff Taylor’s office. We were more than happy to assist.”